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MEMORIAL ADDRESS 



HON. A. C. LATIMER, 

OF^ SOUTH C>VROLINA, 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



HON. JOSEPH H. EARLE, 

(Late a Senator from the State of South Carolina), 



DELIVERED IN THE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 



y\F»RIIv 22>, 1898. 



WASHIINIGXON. 

1898. 









6830' 



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MEMORIAL ADDRESS UPON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER 
OF HON. JOSEPH H. EARLE. 



Mr. LATIMER. Mr. Speaker, the late Senator Earle, whose 
memory we recall, and to whom we pay tribute to-day, was horu 
in Greenville, S. C, on April 30, 1847. At the age of 2 years his 
mother died. At 5 years his father died. He was taken by his 
aunt, Mrs. Heriot, to her farm in Sumter, and cared for as her 
own child. He was trained by the hardships of farm life to that 
imtiring energy and close economy which so aided him in achiev- 
ing the success to which he attained in the hard struggle that 
ended only when death came. His early education was acquired 
under trying disadvantages, having to walk to school 31 miles. 
When 14 years of age he had a serious accident. While riding a 
spirited horse on one occasion, the animal fell, breaking his leg iu 
three places, causing him to be an invalid for moi*e than a year. 
After his recovery he joined the Confederate army in ^uly, 1864, 
and made a gallant soldier. 

Ardent, courageous, patriotic, and loyal to his State, he grasped 
the sword in her defense. Through hardship and untold priva- 
tions he followed the immortal leaders of the Southern army, 
amid the vicissitudes of fortune, to their final defeat. 

After the war there was nothing in the outlook of the country 
nor in its social and political condition to animate or give buoy- 
ancy to his youthful spirits or to guide him to an elevated plane 
of manhood and usefulness. His aunt's house lay in the track of 
the Union Army, and desolation all around, and a thorough social 
upheaval, united with a galling oppression from without, tended 
to make the prospect cheerless and hopeless. But that manly 
courage which he inherited and hardihood acquired by his expe- 
rience as a soldier qvialified him for the conquest of adverse con- 
ditions and for his final triumph over all discouragements. 

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Aiuon'^ Ills most striJ^'^S characteristics was self-reliance, and it 
stood in goo^ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ trying period. 

jj-g ^rfocation was meager, such only as he had acquired in the 
<5ommon schools. Realizing the importance of education, he 
entered Furmau University, and there pursued his studies until 
forced to leave college because his meager means were exhausted. 
Not having sufficient money to complete his education, he taught 
school for two years, thereby making money with which to pay, in 
part, obligations contracted at the university. During this time 
he studied law. In 1869 he married his cousin, a daughter of Col. 
John Baylis Earle, of Anderson Count}'', and moved to Anderson, 
and there began the practice of his profession. After one year's 
residence in Anderson he moved to Sumter, S. C, and there, 
among the friends and scenes of his childhood, continued his 
career as a lawyer and public man. He took a prominent part in 
the memorable political campaign of 1876, when the State was 
redeemed from carpetbag rule. 

He was elected in 1878 to the lower house of the legislature, in 
1882 to the-State senate, and in 1886 he was elected attorney-general. 
In 1888 he was offered the nomination of governor, but declined 
on account of pledges to his friends. In the memorable campaign 
of 1890 a thorough canvass of the State was made for the office of 
governor by Captain Tillman and General Earle, when political 
feeling ran high and thousands of admiring friends greeted the 
noted South Carolinians at each county seat in the State. When 
public sentiment was largely against Senator Eaele, the manner 
in which he met his opponent and the manly courage and heroic 
faith in the cause he championed won for him the respect and ad- 
miration of all who witnessed the contest. Though defeated for 
the office of governor of South Carolina, his manly bearing in 
defeat so endeared him to the people of the State that at the first 
opportunity— in 189-4 — he was elected circuit judge by a legislature 
composed largely of his old opponents. In 1896 he was chosen to 
till the highest office in the gift of his State— that of United States 
Senator. He took his seat IMarch 4, 1897, and died May 20 of the 
same year. 

The people of South Carolina expected much ot Senator Eaele 
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in Ms new field. Nobly endowed, wiix. 

devoted to his State and to his people, we ba....„^ untaruislied 
much of him. Those who differed from him still ente^-^ expect 
him the most marked respect. His powers in debate were or"-^r 
highest order. He was always cool and clear-headed and often 
aggressive. His courage was unsurpassed, as his supporters and 
opponents will alike bear witness. His honesty was unquestioned 
and his conduct was always above reproach. His experience as a 
lawyer and judge made him conservative and fair-minded. ■ He 
never descended to low personalities when engaged in controver- 
sies nor assailed character when in partisan vrarfare. Vitupera- 
tion was foreign to his nature. 

His public record covers a period when courage, high ability, 
and absolute integrity were required to meet grave and important 
exigencies. It is a proud satisfaction to know that his connection 
with the history of South Carolina and the part he bore in all 
these trying emergencies were wholly honorable to himself and 
conspicuously serviceable to his State and country. His was a 
changeless sincerity. He was never in disguise. He was the soul 
of honor, and had a contempt for anything mean or sordid. So 
highly endowed was ho by nature and with so many estimable 
traits, he was particularly fitted to discharge the duties of the ex- 
alted positions to which he was called by an admiring people. 
He enjoyed the companionship of friends and made it pleasant 
and enjoyable for them to be with him. High-toned, manly, and 
dignified in manner and conduct, he treated everyone, both high 
and low, in the way becoming a gentleman, and he expected like 
treatment in return. He was a genuine type of the best element 
of the South. 

He was called apparently before his work was finished. He did 
not die of old age, nor of lingering decay. Death came to him in 
the fullness of his powers. Step by step he had climbed the ladder 
of fame and filled each station with great ability. He had just 
reached the goal of his ambition when elected to the United States 
Senate. However, the full measure of his capabilities had not 
been reached, and his career was prematurely brought to a close 

by an untimely death. He was an active worker up to the very 
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1 fl" I'f ■rvi,<?» '^^i^ end came, there was no stain upon his 

;, 1 . /»^e was nndimmed. His name will survive Ions' 
name and h'* '^ 

. ., viscory of his State and the country, 
m thp -'' -^ ■' 

IS has been well said, "the history of man and human prog- 
is a story of sacrifice, devotion, and self-deniaL As we look 
down the ages and let pass before the view the toils and the strug- 
gles, the failures and the successes, the lights and the shades of 
human character and efforts, and, above all, when we look into 
our own souls and try to square ambition with achievement, de- 
sire with consummation, hope with possibility — aye, all the con- 
tradictions and paradoxes of conduct and aspiration — we rise from 
the contemplation with the conviction that through all these there 
is a higher destiny." 

Mr. Speaker, that this noble man spent nearly fifty years in the 
battle of life, and a large part of that time in the public service of 
Ms State, and passed through the most heated political contest 
known to South Carolina, or to any other State, and with a large 
majority of his people against him, and yet not one charge of any 
kind was ever made affecting his honor, integrity, or ability, 
marked him as one of the noblest works of God — "an honest 
man." No South Carolinian ever felt that the honor or dignity 
of his State would ever be lowered while intrusted to Joseph 
Earle. 

He was of the solid, even-tempered, weil-balanced order of men, 
to whom only can the safety and perpetuity of great interests and 
the grave responsibilities of guiding a great country be confi- 
dently intrusted. For the emulation of youth a nobler example 
than our deceased friend has left us can scarcely bo presented. 

In his death the State has lost the service of one of her truest 
sons; the nation a statesman of the greatest promise. 

Fortunate are we if this pause in the busy duties of public 
service shall aid us in making ready, as was Senator Earle, for 
the call that came to him, and which will surely come to each of 
us. Would to God we had more such characters in piablic life- 
nun who love the truth and spurn pretense; men who love God 
and v^liose lives mark their devotion to His precepts. 



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